480 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



and Michigan, but has been most troublesome in New York. 

 It has also been noted as a pest of willow and poplar in Mary- 

 land, and of basket willow in Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio, so 

 that it is doubtless quite generally distributed. The adult insect 

 is a slender saw-fly with shining black body and light brownish 

 legs, shown natural size in Fig. 344a. The male is smaller and 

 has a brownish-yellow abdomen, while in the female the first 

 half of the abdomen is reddish-orange and the rest is black. The 

 adults are abroad in May, but are very shy and are seldom seen. 



FIG. 345. Currant stem girdled by the stem-girdler. (After Slingerland.) 



They are saw-flies in the truest sense of that term, for the female 

 makes most effective use of her saw-like ovipositor, as has been 

 very interestingly described and illustrated by Professor Slinger- 

 land. The ovipositor is thrust into the cane 'for its whole length, 

 and through it the egg is deposited in the pith. The egg is an 

 elongate-oval shape, yellowish-white, and about one-twenty-fifth 

 inch long (Fig. 344d). Immediately the female moves an inch 

 or two higher and girdles the stalk by numerous thrusts of her 

 ovipositor, which is thrust in and then given a twist to one side 

 so that it comes out at one side of where it was forced in, and 

 makes a horizontal cut. The eggs are laid in late May and early 



